Wheaton community pays tribute

“One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed retirement so much is that I knew Wheaton was in wonderful hands. Ron Crutcher is a fine human being and a savvy academic and artist. Don and I look forward to continued friendship with Ron, Betty and Sara.”

“President Crutcher has led our college with great success, grace, integrity and devotion. The trustees are most grateful for his leadership and thankful for his contributions. The goals that we set for his presidency—in consultation with the college community in 2003–2004—centered on our shared desire to strengthen Wheaton by building on its distinctive liberal arts curriculum, enhancing its academic reputation in the wider world and fully enlisting the active support of our extended community. Wheaton has made enormous strides forward in those areas, thanks to President Crutcher’s dedication to advancing the college. So much has been accomplished under his tenure.”

Four members of the Class of 2013 and one from the Class of 2012 have won Fulbright Scholarships this year. Wheaton consistently ranks among the top 10 liberal arts colleges in the nation when it comes to preparing students to win Fulbright Scholarships for advanced study and work abroad, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Institute of International Education, which administers the Fulbright program. The college’s students have won 73 Fulbright awards since 2000.

Lucy Cayard arrived at Wheaton with an interest in German language and culture, but no plans to major in the subject. But one class led to another, then to a major, a semester spent studying in Regensburg and fluency in speaking the language.

Now, she will be putting her learning and experiences to work in Germany, living and teaching there for a year.

She traces her interest in the German language to her grandmother, Leonora Balla, who was born and raised in Marburg, Germany. After World War II, Balla emigrated to America to go to school. She actually won a Fulbright to the U.S. herself. Unfortunately, she passed away in December before she could learn of her granddaughter’s similar success.

“I think my grandma really wanted me to carry on the family relations with the German family after she died, because I am the only person in my family who speaks German somewhat fluently,” said Cayard. “I wish she could have known that I won the Fulbright.”

After graduating as valedictorian of her high school class, Cayard signed up to take German in order to fulfill the language requirement at Wheaton. Having visited Germany a couple of times, she ended up completing a semester there during her sophomore year—a year earlier than most college students pursue study abroad.

“Living in Germany was easily one of the best times of my life thus far,” she said.

Her experience as a German tutor to her fellow Wheaton students will come in handy in her role as a teaching assistant.

Upon her return to the U.S., Cayard will consider whether to apply to graduate school or to the Peace Corps, where she can support the mission of international aid and education.

Lindsay Cieslik

From: Madison, Wis.

Major: Psychology

Minor: Education

Honor: Community Scholar

Fulbright: English teaching assistantship in Malaysia

Education, said the 19th century school reformer Horace Mann, is “the great equalizer.” Lindsay Cieslik believes in that equalizing power, and that’s why she wants to teach.

At the age of 21, she has already gained teaching experience in Tanzania, East Africa, and here in Norton, Mass., as a student teacher in a local school. Later this year, she will broaden that experience as she heads to Malaysia as an English language teaching assistant.

She realizes that public education in the U.S. is far from equitable. “I think that, so far, many education reforms have been Band-Aid fixes, meaning they are just covering up the problem instead of finding the root of it,” she said. “We need to find the root of the problem and fix it. One way I believe that can happen is by putting the right teachers in the right classrooms.”

Cieslik, who wants to work with low-income urban students, has long drawn inspiration from the teachers in her own life—first in her early years, then at Wheaton, and then in a township outside of Grahamstown, South Africa, where she studied abroad during her junior year.

She had her first international teaching experience in Tanzania, during the Wheaton summer course, “Tanzania: Education and Development,” taught by Professor Donna Kerner. Then, during her semester in South Africa, Cieslik volunteered at the Little Flower Preschool, which had been started by four local women on their own initiative.

After her year in Malaysia, Cieslik wants to return to the States and teach in an urban school for a few years, then pursue a master’s degree in education. It’s all part of her quest to be the best teacher she can for the students with the greatest needs.

Rasheeda Abdul-Musawwir

From: Boston

Major: Women’s studies

Minor: Psychology

Honor: Gilman Scholar

Fulbright: English teaching assistantship in Bangladesh

Rasheeda Abdul-Musawwir grew up as a minority within a minority. Her family, American Muslims among Muslim immigrants from the Middle East and South Asia, immersed themselves in a diverse community.

That background, she said, prepared her to take intellectual risks in college.

She plans to continue her educational journey next year in Bangladesh, where she will be teaching English as a Fulbright Scholar.

“Teaching English in Bangladesh will allow me the chance to do two things I long for: teach young people English and become part of a community of people I want to learn more about,” she said.

A native of Boston, Abdul-Musawwir identifies her decision to major in women’s studies as a turning point.

“Prior to Wheaton, I found myself often questioning gender stereotypes; however, I was too shy to be expressive about my opinions,” she said. “Women’s studies challenged me to step out of my comfort zone and learn to be an active feminist.”

Having taken courses in education, she finds welcome challenge in teaching. She has built up a résumé of teaching experience with volunteer opportunities on campus and having spent several summers as a teacher with the nonprofit Breakthrough Collaborative program in Cambridge, Mass.

“Teaching provides you with constant feedback, which is determined by how receptive students are to your performance,” she said. “This requires a teacher to constantly look back on his or her work and re-evaluate.”

When she heads to Bangladesh, it will not be her first trip abroad. She won an award from the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program, which enabled her to spend the spring semester of her junior year in Morocco.

Lindsay Powell

From: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Major: Sociology

Minors: Political science and development studies

Honor: Wheaton Posse Scholar

Fulbright: English teaching assistantship in Malaysia

A new world opened for Lindsay Powell after she first learned to read and speak Spanish in high school.

“I remember reading every Spanish-language advertisement on the New York City subway, and listening to every conversation in Spanish that I overheard,” Powell said. “I began to learn about Latino culture, food, music and dance.”

Next year, she hopes to share the transforming power of language by teaching English to schoolchildren as a Fulbright Scholar to Malaysia.

“I want to be able to work with young people especially and share with them the transformative experience I had when I began to learn Spanish,” she said. “I also believe learning English is a vital skill to have in our globalized world.”

She’s looking forward to learning about Malaysia’s multi-ethnic and culturally diverse society by living there for a year.

“After studying abroad in Vietnam, I became fascinated with Southeast Asia, and was particularly interested in doing more travel in the diverse region,” she said. “I chose Malaysia because I was intrigued by the mixing of cultures and ethnicities, and how these realities increasingly play a role in the politics of the nation.”

A Wheaton Posse Scholar, Powell served as president of the Student Government Association. She also was active in a number of other campus organizations, from the Roosevelt Institute to the Trybe dance group.

She is an experienced world traveler, too. In addition to her semester abroad in Vietnam, she also has spent a summer volunteering as a tutor in Rivas, Nicaragua, and she worked with youth in Cape Town, South Africa, last summer as one of Wheaton’s International Davis Fellows.

Through those experiences, she said, “I have seen the devastating effects that inequality and poverty have on children and young adults. I understand now how it damages one’s self-esteem and self-worth.”

Issues of social justice and equality have formed the core of Powell’s studies at Wheaton, she said, noting that inequality can serve as a spark to achieving real and substantive change.